


Strive to Please

by sarahcakes613



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Alternate Universe - Actors, Broadway, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:16:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27623939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahcakes613/pseuds/sarahcakes613
Summary: TV actor Sonny Carisi has been cast in his very first theatre production, but Broadway veteran Rafael Barba's not impressed with what he's seen of the man's work.He is however impressed by Sonny's clear and endearing desire to improve.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 52
Collections: Barisi Professions Bingo





	Strive to Please

“Have you seen the full cast list for Twelfth?” Rafael’s makeup artist asks breathlessly as he sits down.

He meets Amanda’s wide eyes in the mirror and frowns. “No, why?”

“They finally cast Sebastian!”

Rafael closes his eyes as she pats at his face. This is the final week of his current Broadway run, and rehearsals begin next week for a summer-long production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

“I’m guessing by your excitement they hooked a name with a draw?” He asks, because he can tell she’s dying to spill.

“Yes!” She squeals. “They got Sonny Carisi!”

“Who?”

The brush stops running over his cheek. He opens his eyes and looks up at her. She is staring down at him, incredulous.

“What?” He asks. “Is he one of the new young crowd? What shows has he been in? You know I don’t have many opportunities to see other runs.”

“No, no,” she shakes her head. “This is going to be his first theatre role. God, Barba, don’t you ever watch TV? Sonny Carisi is only the star of the show _Dominick_!”

“Never heard of it.” He mumbles through closed lips.

“It’s on Netflix!” she says. “I binged the first season in three days!”

Rafael shrugs. “I don’t really watch a lot of scripted television,” he says.

“Okay, well, you should watch this. I’ll give you my sign-in info.”

Amanda then proceeds to tell him the entire storyline of the first season, starting with the death of the protagonist’s entire family in a mysterious housefire and culminating in a literal cliffhanger after a car chase that results in him driving over the edge of a cliff as he goes after the man who lit the match.

It sounds absolutely puerile, but Rafael grudgingly agrees to watch an episode, if only to see what kind of actor he’s going to be working with.

He’s not impressed. The show is heavy on effects and light on plot, and the writing is mediocre at best. And as for Sonny Carisi, the less said the better. When he’s not punching his way through the scenery, he is chewing it, and between the bad 1970’s costuming and whatever that godawful accent he’s attempting is, there is very little to give Rafael hope.

* * *

He takes his final bow with a sad smile and waves to the audience as the curtains close. He’ll be sorry to leave the production, but he is excited to see what his replacement will do with the role he’s originated. They’ve had a few drinks, discussing the show and generally getting to know each other, and he’s briefly regretful Nick won’t be the one joining him for Twelfth Night. He’s got an easy smile and knows how to have a good time and he’d be a good person to share a backstage with. More, too, maybe, if the timing were right. Rafael's a sucker for a man with an easy smile.

When he gets back to his dressing room, there’s a tall man facing away from him, knocking softly on the door.

“If you’ll let me through, I can close the door behind me and you can try again,” he jokes, and the man turns around with a start.

Rafael sends a small note of thanks to the gods of costuming that Sonny Carisi’s horrendous moustache on _Dominick_ is not a permanent fixture, and his upper lip is bare, as is the rest of his face.

Without the moustache, it’s apparent that Carisi has a beautiful mouth, plush pink lips that he is now chewing nervously.

“Are those for me?” Rafael asks curiously, gesturing to the small bouquet of bodega flowers that Carisi is clutching.

“Oh! Yeah, um, here.” He thrusts them out. “I know you probably already got like, big arrangements of roses or whatever, but I know you’re supposed to give flowers after a performance and I didn’t wanna just show up with nothing.”

Rafael smiles gently. The nervous babbling is endearing enough, and he opens the door and waves for Carisi to come in.

“Did you enjoy the show?” He asks, focused on the mirror as he begins wiping off his eye makeup.

“Yeah!” Carisi is still standing. “I mean, I saw some shows back home at the community theatre, but this was my first time seeing one on Broadway, you know? It’s such a different vibe. And you were really, really great.”

“You don’t have to kiss my ass to take a seat, Mr. Carisi” he laughs.

Carisi blushes a light pink and sits down on the edge of the small futon loveseat.

“Please, call me Sonny. I’m really excited about working with you this summer,” he says, picking at a loose thread in his shirt cuff. He looks up and fixes his sky blue eyes intently on Rafael. “I know half the reason I got hired was because of my marquee appeal.”

Rafael blinks. It’s almost certainly true, but it shows a remarkable level of self-awareness for the young man to recognize it.

“I’ve watched you, you know.” Rafael says slowly. “On that Netflix program.”

Sonny’s blush deepens to an interesting shade of red. “Probably not the kind of thing you wanna see from a guy who’s about to do Shakespeare.”

Also true, and again with the self-awareness.

“No,” Rafael allows. “But Hugh Jackman won a Tony Award after filming two comic book movies.”

“I’m not sure I’m going to be at Hugh Jackman’s level anytime soon,” Sonny says, “but I just. I wanted to let you know that I’m going to work really hard.”

“I believe you,” Rafael says, and he’s surprised to find it’s true.

“I was actually wondering,” Sonny chews at his lip again. “I was wondering if maybe you’d be willing to work with me. Outside of rehearsals, I mean. It’s just, everything about this is different. I’m used to mics that will pick up everything, and getting to reshoot my take if I mess up, you know?”

“I do know,” Rafael agrees. He’s a theatre actor in New York, which means his resumé is padded with guest appearances on half a dozen procedurals that shoot in the city. He’s well-versed in the differences between acting on stage and on set.

Sonny smiles at him, relieved to be talking to someone so understanding.

His smile is wide and bright and _fuck me_ Rafael thinks, his smile is easy. That’s the only explanation for the offer he makes.

“Why don’t we get lunch tomorrow,” he says. “We can do a dry run of your lines and I can give you some notes. I’ll get in touch with some of the others, see if anyone else can make it. It would be good for you to meet our Viola, Alex Cabot, ahead of time.”

He doesn’t say that he’s already planning on conveniently forgetting to text the others until just before they’re due to meet. Alex Cabot can wait.

“That would be – I mean, really? That would be amazing!” Sonny gushes. “I’ve been running lines with my stunt double on _Dominick_ , but he’s not exactly Lee Strasberg, you know? A one-on-one rehearsal with you, that’s like. I mean wow, that would just be a master class!”

Rafael chuckles. He’s loath to admit it, but he’s finding himself hopeful that Sonny’s approach to the Bard isn’t as wooden as on his television program. Good acting can be taught, it’s true, but there’s something in Sonny that tells him it might not be so necessary. There’s a natural rhythm to his movements, a natural cadence to his words, that speak to a skill that is being pushed down and out of view on that terrible action show.

“Oh god,” Sonny bolts up. “I’m sorry, I just realized, you’re probably waiting for me to leave so you can change and leave, aren’t you?”

He isn’t, as it happens. His castmates had offered to throw a small party for him but he’d declined, happy to just have cake before soundcheck and call it a win. His plans for the evening are currently running more towards a luxurious bath, some sushi, and maybe a few episodes of one of those feel-good cooking shows where everybody helps each other and no one tells the camera they’re not here to make friends.

“It’s okay,” he says with a smile, and he expects Sonny to leave anyways, but he lingers.

“Would you – that is, instead of lunch tomorrow.” Sonny flusters, and Rafael waits patiently for him to continue. “Would you like to get dinner tonight?”

Rafael smiles again, a small curve of a mischievous grin. He wonders if Sonny enjoys sushi and feel-good cooking shows.


End file.
